The use of stretchers is wide spread in the medical emergency field. Stretchers are useful for transporting a person is a fully laid out position during a medical emergency, in particular when the patient is fully disabled and unable to sit up due to injuries, disease or other disabling conditions. A stretcher is easy to handle in a wide open area, however, in a confined area such as a hallway or small room, a stretcher may be difficult to maneuver.
Further, wheel chairs have wide spread applications for transporting patients. Wheel chairs are also commonly used by semi-disabled persons to allow them to move around on their own. A wheel chair is fairly maneuverable in confined areas, however, a wheel chair cannot be used on stairs, or for lifting or lowering a patient to assist a patient into or out of a bed, chair, or other common horizontal support.
All of these conventional patient transporting device suffer in various ways with respect to maneuverability, and tend to be large is size, heavy in weight, complicated in construction, and expensive. There exists a need for a device that allows for a patient to be easily lifted and/or carried short distances or from horizontal support to support for patient handling purposes.